Montreal – Quebec’s professional engineering association is vowing to “clean house” and sanction crooked members as revelations of corruption and shady business liaisons continue to surface almost daily in the province’s construction industry.

The alleged “culture of corruption” by SNC-Lavalin and others was encouraged by the government’s willingness to turn a blind eye. Keep reading.

“We want to send a clear message: No one is above the laws, the ethics and the code of ethics that govern the engineering profession,” Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec President Daniel Lebel said in the text of a speech he was to give Thursday to the Association des MBA du Québec in Montreal.

“Even though Quebec engineering is the one going through the crisis, it is Quebec as a whole that suffers the consequences. Because the construction industry is affected by this crisis, a large part of our economy is in jeopardy. We run the risk of losing our competitive edge over several other countries and provinces that are just as able to compete with us in attracting investments.”

Quebec has a major cluster of engineering firms headquartered on its territory, including names such as SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. and Genivar Inc. The industry has been in damage control mode since the start of the Charbonneau Commission, a government-mandated public inquiry looking into potential corruption in the awarding and management of public construction contracts.

Among the shocking disclosure heard by the commission so far was testimony by a former Genivar executive that the firm was part of a cartel of engineering firms that rigged bids on Montreal public works contracts in the mid 2000s in concert with the city’s then-ruling Union Montreal party in exchange for political donations. Two Montreal mayors have so far resigned as a result of testimony heard at the inquiry and engineering executives from several companies have quit or been fired.

“The scandal is mainly related to business development practices,” Mr. Lebel said in his speech. “This means that only a handful of individuals are actually responsible for ruining the reputation of 60,000 people.” That’s the number of engineers in Quebec.

The Ordre des Ingénieurs has an internal team of some 35 employees investigating complaints and tips about alleged wrongdoing commited by its engineers. Over the past two years, it has opened more than 140 investigative files on corruption, collusion and fraud and another 350 on illegal political party funding, Mr. Lebel said.

More than 30 engineers have been summoned before the order’s disclipinary council to answer to corruption or illegal financing accusations. None have so far been sanctioned.

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The association in May started a voluntary program to audit the business practices of Quebec’s engineering firms. Companies that comply could advance their rehabilitation, the association has said. It is also working to launch an independent “integrity institute” to help governments and other organizations determine global best practices in the awarding of contracts.

On Wednesday, the Charbonneau Commission heard phone conversation from police wiretaps in the late 2000s in which the chief executive of the Fonds de Solidarité FTQ, a $9-billion Montreal labour-sponsored investment fund, insisted on the need to hide the involvement of an alleged Hells Angels sympathizer in one of the fund’s projects. The wiretaps also captured conversation that suggest former FTQ union leader Michel Arsenault was giving inside information about the investment fund to construction magnate Tony Accurso. Mr. Accurso has been arrested by police three times and faces several fraud charges.

The issue landed in Quebec’s legislature Thursday morning as François Legault, the head of the province’s second opposition party, said: “These recordings reveal an unhealthy closeness between the FTQ, the Fonds’ senior management, certain entrepreneurs and even people close to organized crime. It’s indecent. It harms the interest of shareholders and the Quebec economy.”

Fonds officials insist the matter is one of a limited number of problem files that have since been rectified amid a broader governance overhaul.

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